Investing Strategies. What is your move?

[Dave Hess]

Target warns of soft holiday quarter as profit tumbles and sales slow

Target saw sales decline as families contended with higher prices, a potential warning sign for the holiday shopping season.

www.cnbc.com

Just like Amazon, Target is also expecting a slower holiday shopping season and people cutting back on spending.

 

[alarmguy]

Target warns of soft holiday quarter as profit tumbles and sales slow

Target saw sales decline as families contended with higher prices, a potential warning sign for the holiday shopping season.

www.cnbc.com

Just like Amazon, Target is also expecting a slower holiday shopping season and people cutting back on spending.

Yeah, I saw that speculation with Target is being they are more clothing vs Walmart with strong grocery sales. Target may take a hit.
As Walmart mentioned weakness in Apparel and very strong grocery which Target is not strong on.
It will be interesting to me since I hold WMT which no matter how we look at it is in the same "group"
Oops, read this first before clicking your link ... ( I just woke up)

 

[redbone3]

I'm playing the interest rate cycle and betting on established companies. How? Interest rate play is with a basket of preferred stock. Established companies with an ETF (JEPI). For the year I'm down 1.8%.

 

[GON]

Target warns of soft holiday quarter as profit tumbles and sales slow

Target saw sales decline as families contended with higher prices, a potential warning sign for the holiday shopping season.

www.cnbc.com

Just like Amazon, Target is also expecting a slower holiday shopping season and people cutting back on spending.

Target having issues is more with the products they offer than with the current economics.

Target offers less of a selection, at higher prices than its peers such as Wal Mart. Wal mart sells more items, more choices of the items, and at a better price than Target. Target sells low end product in high end packaging at higher prices. Like Macy's, Target selling low quality product in fancy packaging is not cutting it anymore.

 

[jetman]

lockdowns that helped spur violent protests at an Apple iPhone factory in China.

Look it up

 

[wpod]

We are going through another 1979+ recession. We will find that at the worst those with huge debt may choke and those with out debt may be able to grow their wealth. The 79 recession was lots of fun for me as I was laid off my job and was able to work, 1 to 3 days per week out of the Teamsters line drivers local driving from the SF bay area to, Portland Ore area, LA basin and the central valley etc. and the other mini recessions were insignificant and the 2008+ was wonderful as I was able to buy real estate and do well. I failed at buying the stock bargains since I spent the money on foreclosed houses.

 

[Dave Hess]

We are going through another 1979+ recession. We will find that at the worst those with huge debt may choke and those with out debt may be able to grow their wealth. The 79 recession was lots of fun for me as I was laid off my job and was able to work, 1 to 3 days per week out of the Teamsters line drivers local driving from the SF bay area to, Portland Ore area, LA basin and the central valley etc. and the other mini recessions were insignificant and the 2008+ was wonderful as I was able to buy real estate and do well. I failed at buying the stock bargains since I spent the money on foreclosed houses.

Folks with cash on the sidelines will have lots of buying opportunities whether it’s stocks or properties.

Lots of debt bubbles will cause some pain once the recession gets underway and people / companies no longer have access to cheap money, lots of zombie companies on life support.

 

[PWMDMD]

Target warns of soft holiday quarter as profit tumbles and sales slow

Target saw sales decline as families contended with higher prices, a potential warning sign for the holiday shopping season.

www.cnbc.com

Just like Amazon, Target is also expecting a slower holiday shopping season and people cutting back on spending.

Yup because we can’t have it both ways. We want to reduce inflation? Ok, that means people need to be less willing/able to buy stuff from Amazon and Target. The sooner these corrective adaptations occur the sooner we’ll be on the other side.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Yup because we can’t have it both ways. We want to reduce inflation? Ok, that means people need to be less willing/able to buy stuff from Amazon and Target. The sooner these corrective adaptations occur the sooner we’ll be on the other side.

Yes; as long as people are willing to pay whatever prices, there is little incentive to lower prices. Consumption is the key driver of inflation. While the rate of inflation has trended down, employment has stayed remarkably high. Funny cycle; so far we are experiencing a soft landing. But there is a long way to go and much of the world is not so fortunate.

 

[alarmguy]

Target warns of soft holiday quarter as profit tumbles and sales slow

Target saw sales decline as families contended with higher prices, a potential warning sign for the holiday shopping season.

www.cnbc.com

Just like Amazon, Target is also expecting a slower holiday shopping season and people cutting back on spending.

You know, I am not so sure there is anything left to buy.

Think about it, cheap laptops are always cheap, cheap TVs are always cheap, Cameras and Earbuds are always on sale year round.
A few years back, it was hard as heck to buy the above items for cheap prices. Remember the lines outside stores to grab a let's say 55 inch TV for $600? Now you can buy one year round for less than $300. Heck you can buy up to 75 inch and more for under $1000 year round now.

I dont think anyone, at least where we live is cutting back on anything, I see the PACKED restaurants every day of the week now, it used to be only weekends. It's become insane! We have a Texas Roadhouse near us, with now 14 reserved spaces for takeout and besides the restaurant being packed, the other night all 14 spaces were taken waiting for take out to come to their cars.
I think, why retail sales will stagnate is there are no new products to buy, everyone has a good cell phone, big screen TVs, ect ect.... nothing new and exciting.

My wife and I ourselves, BIG electronics nuts for decades honestly do not have a clue on what to put on our "wish lists" to each other.
There is nothing new that hasn't been around for a few years and Black Friday prices not what they used to be, because the prices are pretty much the same year round now.
I found one thing the other day and even that was cheap compared to what we are used too and I dont really need it but was thinking since I cant think of anything else this year maybe a Bose Quiet Comfort 45 headphone would be cool. I listened to them in Costco the day before Thanksgiving and the last day of the sale, a true sale at $189. The noise cancelling was incredible, slip those things over your ears and all of a sudden the hustle and bustle of Costco on the day before Thanksgiving was quiet.

Oh... and then I read, my hometown which I grew up and spent decades of my life on Long Island NY, Unemployment rate jsut came in a 2.2% !!! That is insane!! crazy! Back to SC where we live, the only reason we may hesitate to go out to dinner now is if we cant get there by 5 Pm forget it, you are screwed unless you remember to "call ahead" you will wait over an hour and boy, I will tell you, we have seen prices go up though the roof and so far its not stopping anyone. I will say though, those prices are on our minds when we do go out so maybe the start of a slowing... who knows?

Anyway, what I am saying is what the media is saying is to create news that doesnt exist or better said does exist but not because of the prices, its because there are no new products to buy.

 

[PWMDMD]

Yes; as long as people are willing to pay whatever prices, there is little incentive to lower prices. Consumption is the key driver of inflation. While the rate of inflation has trended down, employment has stayed remarkably high. Funny cycle; so far we are experiencing a soft landing. But there is a long way to go and much of the world is not so fortunate.

Yeah...there's nothing "normal" about this economy. Some aspects looked great and others do not. It makes sense, there are quite a few very unique factors that are contributing to this economy.

 

[GON]

Yup because we can’t have it both ways. We want to reduce inflation? Ok, that means people need to be less willing/able to buy stuff from Amazon and Target. The sooner these corrective adaptations occur the sooner we’ll be on the other side.

Target is the next Sears, and Amazon now makes sales on convenience, Amazon is no longer the universal price leader. I am actually seeing prices on some items like trickle chargers significantly higher at Amazon over Walmart.

I think Walmart is the bellwether for the American consumer spending mindset. Target has been toast for five plus years, and today's Amazon in not the Amazon of just a few years ago. Of note on Amazon, many items say next day delivery, but at checkout are showing a week delivery. Amazon is not linger in fire to make every sale.

 

[PWMDMD]

Target is the next Sears, and Amazon now makes sales on convenience, Amazon is no longer the universal price leader. I am actually seeing prices on some items like trickle chargers significantly higher at Amazon over Walmart.

I think Walmart is the bellwether for the American consumer spending mindset. Target has been toast for five plus years, and today's Amazon in not the Amazon if just a few years ago. Of note on Amazon, many items say next day delivery, but at checkout are showing a week delivery. Amazon is not linger in fire to make every sale.

I agree. Amazon hasn't been the price leader for many items since mid-2020 and Target it dead. The sentiment of my post still stands though - expect some evidence of the economy slowing and less-than-expected earnings before prices stabilize.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Everything has a product life cycle. Target and Kohls are nearing their end.

 

[GON]

Everything has a product life cycle. Target and Kohls are nearing their end.

I can't speak for Kohls, but Target may have one time sold quality stuff. Now they sell really poor quality product in a super high quality box/packaging. They must think consumers are dumb, and they may have been right, but after a while even the dumb consumers catch on that the nice box does not equal quality in the box.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I can't speak for Kohls, but Target may have one time sold quality stuff. Now they sell really poor quality product in a super high quality box/packaging. They must think consumers are dumb, and they may have been right, but after a while even the dumb consumers catch on that the nice box does not equal quality in the box.

It's worse than that. The Internet has added incredible choice and flexibility to retail. In its infancy; we ain't seen nuthin' yet.

 

[PWMDMD]

Everything has a product life cycle. Target and Kohls are nearing their end.

It's worse than that. The Internet has added incredible choice and flexibility to retail. In its infancy; we ain't seen nuthin' yet.

I had Thanksgiving with a cousin yesterday who was a senior VP at Hudson's Bay Company until a few years ago. He specifically focused mostly on Saks. He left to join a marijuana start up based out of Canada but said before he left he said the writing was on the wall that things were going to be very different moving forward and to be honest none of them had any idea where things were going and how they could compete online. While he wasn't worried about Amazon per se since they sold very different products, it was clear the overhead of having stores and people's preferences to not go out and shop were going to be an issue moving forward. He did say he's been out of loop for awhile but even Saks put significant effort in developing their online presence and he feels stores that rely entirely or mostly on foot traffic without a major online presence will have problems - there are just too many online options.

 

[JeffKeryk]

@PWMDMD look at the cost savings advantage Tesla's direct sales model has over the dealership model.
Brick and mortar is costly, slow and offers little value add. Why should I drive to a store, park, go in, look around and ultimately have to settle?
Click-click-click and you get exactly what you want delivered in 2 days.

The Internet has rendered cursive writing obsolete. Even proper typing is giving away to 2 thumbs. The point is, the IoT has brought the world to an inflection point.

 

[PWMDMD]

@PWMDMD look at the cost savings advantage Tesla's direct sales model has over the dealership model.
Brick and mortar is costly, slow and offers little value add. Why should I drive to a store, park, go in, look around and ultimately have to settle?
Click-click-clink and you get it delivered in 2 days.

The Internet has rendered cursive writing obsolete. Even proper typing is giving away to 2 thumbs. The point is, the IoT has brought the world to an inflection point.

The real key for me is avoiding the stupid and outdated sleazy car salesman routine. I'd happily buy a vehicle where there wasn't the barrier of someone trying to screw me over sitting between me and my new vehicle.

 

[Dave Hess]

@PWMDMD look at the cost savings advantage Tesla's direct sales model has over the dealership model.
Brick and mortar is costly, slow and offers little value add. Why should I drive to a store, park, go in, look around and ultimately have to settle?
Click-click-click and you get exactly what you want delivered in 2 days.

The Internet has rendered cursive writing obsolete. Even proper typing is giving away to 2 thumbs. The point is, the IoT has brought the world to an inflection point.

I just bought 2 pairs of Wrangler jeans from Amazon. 34 x 32.

Free shipping and arriving on Thursday.

Zero possibly I will go to Walmart to buy this.